Ukraina valde Ryssland före EU - stora protester som följd, länkar i inlägg2

Ukrainian police have arrested the head of the state-run energy company Naftogaz, Yevhen Bakulin, in connection with a corruption investigation.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, in a statement on Facebook, said the police were conducting three separate investigations into suspected corruption in the natural-gas industry that may have cost the state some $4 billion.

Avakov said Bakulin was suspected of heading a "criminal group" whose members include other senior current and former Ukrainian government members.

Ukraine has estimated a damage as a result of the nationalization of Ukraine's property in Crimea by Russia as hundreds of billion of US dollars and is going to appeal against this at international arbitration tribunals, Premier of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk told journalists at Boryspil airport on Friday.

"Today we're engaged in a serious conversation on the financial responsibility of Russia for what happened in Crimea. It was Russia that, using weapons, committed a holdup on Ukraine and nationalized dozens of Ukraine's state-owned facilities. We are talking not about billions, but about hundreds billions of US dollars," the premier said.

"Russia should be calm: in the shortest terms it will obtain the relevant lawsuits from the Ukrainian state at international tribunals," he added.

Hetman Sahaidachny drives Russians from Ukraine’s waters

Thursday, March, 20, 2014, 21:35

Ukraine’s flagship frigate, the Hetman Sahaidachny, left Odessa for combat missions in Ukrainian territorial waters. This was reported by Dumskaya, with reference to the Navy command.

Dumskaya reports that the frigate left the port of Odessa on 14 March and arrived at a certain area of ​​the Black Sea.

There, the frigate located four warships of the Black Sea Fleet and two Mi-35 helicopters providing fire support. The Russians tried to cross the maritime border of Ukraine.

The Hetman Sahaidachny’s commander, Commodore Roman Piatnitski, entered into negotiations with the infringers and demanded that they leave the territorial waters of Ukraine, but the enemy did not change course and continued to move towards Ukraine.

In response, the Ukrainian frigate declared a combat alert and the ship came closer to the Russian units. As a result, the Russians retreated to neutral water.

None of Hetman Sahaidachny’s arms were fired during the incident.

Currently the frigate continues to patrol the maritime border of Ukraine.

The original text is on Ukrayinska Pravda at http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/20/7019693/

EU:s beroende av rysk gas och olja måste minska. Det anser det nu avslutade EU-toppmötet som också lovar att EU-länderna ska ställa upp för varandra om något land får problem med avbrutna energileveranser.

In addition to a major push from ethnic Russian politicians, the proposal in Kherson could be boosted by the presence of Russian soldiers, pro-Moscow protesters and the kind of propaganda Ukraine accused Moscow of engaging in before the Crimea vote.---

“We will not allow the country to be broken up further,” Mykola Mikolayenko, mayor of the province’s similarly named capital city, told a packed city council meeting Friday, where a referendum had been expected to be introduced. “If [pro-Russia] city council members want Kherson to join Russia, they better think again. It won't be tolerated. This is treason.”---

Yuri Odarchenko, the province of Kherson's new governor, issued a stern warning Friday about provocations planned by pro-Moscow groups and sought to assure Kherson citizens as Ukraine prepares to evacuate around 25,000 servicemen from Crimean bases that have been taken over by Russian troops and pro-Moscow militias.